


The Best Laid Plans

by obbel



Category: Latin American Celebrities RPF, Reggaetón Music RPF
Genre: AU, M/M, Mistletoe, Neighbors, Reggaetón RPF - Freeform, Secret Plans, holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21944569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obbel/pseuds/obbel
Summary: Nicky is a man with a plan.
Relationships: J Balvin/Nicky Jam
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The Best Laid Plans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rjtondale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rjtondale/gifts).



> Merry Christmas RJ! Love you lots!
> 
> Loosely set in the [ universe of the music video for Mi Cama (Remix).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InLvy_CFKUQ) This didn't turn out quite as holiday-y as I had intended, but you all know what they say about plans.

Nicky’s top secret plan to romance his neighbor and make him swoon is not working. It is too top secret. It is, possibly, so top secret that he hasn’t actually come up with it yet, but he will. Because his current strategy is failing, miserably. All his efforts have been fruitless. These efforts include: befriending him after getting shot down the first time.

Nicky is not giving up hope, though. Already, their relationship has grown by leaps and bounds. Right after José moved in, Nicky brought over a plate of puff pastries — because nothing says "welcome to the neighborhood, I would like to kiss you on the mouth" like filo dough. They had chatted for a while, Nicky hanging around in the doorway because José didn’t actually invite him inside. But he also didn’t stop talking to Nicky, so Nicky figured that was as good a sign as any, and eventually he told José he’d like to take him out.

José didn’t even blink, just said, “oh, so you’re the hitman that my ex sent” in a voice so deadpan that Nicky forgot the line he’d prepared and stood there gaping instead. José had smiled at him, thanked him for the pastries, and closed the door in his face.

Now, at least, José talks to him when they see each other in the hallway. Which happens quite frequently, perhaps due to the fact that when Nicky figured out what time José usually gets home, he adjusted his schedule accordingly. _Perhaps._

Nicky has learned, during these months of totally serendipitous hallway meetings, that José works in fashion and wants to start his own clothing line. He’s also learned that José has two different exes named Juan and one named Valentina, although he’s never gotten clarity on which one might be responsible for a hitman.

This is wonderful progress, but Nicky hasn’t forgotten his original goal. He is going to romance José, make him swoon, and then kiss him on the mouth. He just needs some help formulating his top secret plan. He’s going to enlist backup.

Nicky pokes his head out into the hallway, checking that the coast is clear before marching over and knocking on the door of the apartment between his and José’s.

“Karol!” Nicky yells, but not too loudly, lest José discover his plans. His plans for _romance_ and _kisses._

Karol doesn’t answer right away. Nicky knocks again, putting his ear to the door. He hears a rhythmic thumping noise, and he’s just thinking that maybe he should come back later when Karol comes to the door, a towel wrapped around her head. 

“What’s up, Nick?” she asks. Before he can reply, she says, “come in, come in, you’re letting the air out,” and grabs his hand, pulling him inside and ushering him towards the living room area of the apartment.

All three of them have the same laughably tiny floor plan. Nicky makes himself comfortable on Karol’s sofa. Her apartment is just as obnoxiously wallpapered as Nicky’s. He stares at the giant sunflowers, glad to know that he’s not the only one who’s been too lazy to redecorate.

“I need your help, Karol,” Nicky says with a sigh.

“Is this about José again?”

“You mean the love of my life, father of my future children?”

Karol raises an eyebrow. “How is that going to work?”

“Small details,” Nicky waves her off.

Karol sighs. “What do you want, Nicky?”

“I’m planning a romance,” Nicky says, deadly serious, and Karol adjust the towel around her wet hair. They’re going to be here a while.

After a lengthy deliberation, Karol cuts Nicky’s plan down to three steps:

  1. Acquire mistletoe
  2. Hang mistletoe
  3. Kiss José under the mistletoe



Nicky thinks Karol is sorely remiss in not including the coded language he invented for them to communicate about the plan clandestinely.

“Nicky,” Karol says. Her voice is patient, but her face is pained. “Don’t you think José is going to realize that ‘J Balvin’ is his code name?”

“Why would he?” 

Karol opens her mouth, but then she closes it, smiling without teeth. “You know what, Nicky, go right ahead.”

Nicky grins, leaving Karol’s apartment to go find somewhere that sells mistletoe. 

—

Nicky plans to hang the mistletoe from the ceiling in the middle of their floor. He borrows a ladder from their landlord, Rebeca.

“What are you doing, Nick?” Rebeca’s eyes are closed as she asks. She seems reluctant to open them.

“Spreading the holiday cheer,” Nicky says innocently.

Rebeca cracks an eye open at him. “Is this about José?”

“Of course it is. Can I borrow the ladder, please?”

“Be careful.”

Nicky assumes that means Rebeca is giving her blessing, and he leaves with the ladder under his arm.

Well, he tries to. It’s heavier than it looks. He picks it up with two hands and smiles sheepishly at Rebeca as he tries not to scrape it against the wall on his way out.

Nicky finishes hanging the mistletoe just in time for José to come home from work. José is in a hurry, though, and he brushes right past where Nicky is standing casually under his handiwork. José is on the phone, speaking quickly to someone about mock-ups and muslin and mannequins, but he pauses to wave at Nicky.

Nicky smiles and waves back, but his face falls as soon as José disappears into his apartment. Nicky sighs and goes into his own room, flopping down onto the couch. It’s okay, he tells himself. Tomorrow will be his day. Maybe it’s even for the best. Now he has more time to contemplate exactly how he’s going to sweep José off his feet.

He spends the rest of the evening nailing down all the details of his foolproof plan, and by the time six o’clock the next day rolls around, he’s more than ready. He’s written his lines and rehearsed them. He’s picked out his whitest tennis shoes, and his newest baseball cap, and put on the cologne his best friend Ramón gave him for his birthday. Nicky is ready to _go._

Nicky listens for the familiar footsteps marching up the stairs. He loves that, among many other things, about José. Even if they live on the fifth floor, he never takes the elevator. And since Nicky is always around to meet José after work, that means that Nicky is now also a dedicated stair-taker. His lung capacity has improved considerably since José moved in.

Today, however, the rhythm is different. There’s a beat in between José’s usual steps. Oh no. That means...

Nicky abandons the pose he spent the majority of the afternoon perfecting, body language that says "hello, I am here for you to notice me," without being too intimidating. He slumps against the wall instead, glaring at his shoes. He glances up only when he feels the presence of other people. People. Plural.

“Hey Nicky,” José says amicably. “This is Nicole. Nicole, this is Nicky, my neighbor.”

Nicky hates the word neighbor. Nicky tries very hard not to hate Nicole.

“Pleasure,” Nicole says, sticking her hand out. Nicky makes himself shake it. “I’m José’s assistant.”

Nicky perks up. He shakes Nicole’s hand for real, discontinuing the dead fish impression he’d been attempting previously.

“Assistant!” Nicky says, and then, “that’s wonderful!” when he realizes that yelling “assistant” is probably not the best way to address Nicole. Even if she is an assistant. Nicky is starting to forget what “assistant” means.

He drops Nicole’s hand, wondering how long he’s been shaking it. Judging by her expression, possibly a little longer than socially acceptable.

“Have a nice day, José! Nicole!” Nicky says loudly, and then he runs away.

—

Third time’s the charm, Nicky tells himself as he waits in the lobby of the building. He’s moved his stakeout spot down to the first floor so he knows immediately if today will be the day. Because it’s actually not the third time. It’s the… Nicky has stopped counting.

José’s been working on some important project, and Nicole has been over every day for the past few weeks to help him. It’s not that Nicky dislikes Nicole, either. They got over their awkward introduction quickly, and Nicky looks forward to seeing her in the evenings along with José. It’s just that he can’t really implement his plan with her there. Well, he could, but he likes to think that he’s a gentleman. Romancing should be done without an audience.

Nicky sees them coming in the front door together, and he groans internally, but he still waves from his spot on the lobby couch.

“Hi Nicky!” they say. “Bye Nicky!”

“Cheers,” he says, and he thinks they’re far away enough to not notice that he’s faking it.

This isn’t working. He’s going to have to go back to the drawing board. Nicky stands up and walks slowly up the five flights of stairs to his floor. It’s harder without company.

“Karol!” Nicky knocks on her door. He hears that same rhythmic banging again, and almost turns around, but Karol appears and invites him in.

“What’s going on, Nicky?”

“The plan isn’t working,” he says as he walks through the room and collapses onto one of Karol’s kitchen chairs. 

“Make yourself at home,” Karol says. What a considerate host she is. “Why isn’t the plan working?”

“Because José is so busy, man,” Nicky laments. Karol sits down across from him. She makes a face at him calling her “man,” but she still offers him a box of Christmas cookies. Nicky takes one and bites as sadly as one can really bite a Christmas cookie. “I fully respect the hustle,” he adds, trying to talk and eat at the same time. Karol eyes the crumbs falling onto the table. Nicky sheepishly sweeps them up with his hand.

“Have you tried a different time of day? Maybe make plans ahead of time, you know, instead of just stalking him when he gets off work?”

“I tried that,” Nicky says. “He thought I was a hired killer.”

Karol blinks. “What?”

Nicky waves her off. “It didn’t work.”

“When was this?”

“When he first moved in.”

“That was like six months ago, Nick,” Karol says. “Maybe you should try it again?”

“Hmm,” Nicky says, reaching for another cookie. Maybe Karol has a point. “This sounds more complicated than the mistletoe plan.”

“You’ll be fine,” says Karol.

—

One in the afternoon on Saturday, and Nicky knocks on José’s door.

“Hi Nicky,” José says when he opens it.

“José,” Nicky says. “I’d like to take you out. On a date.”

José looks surprised. “Really?”

“I’ll pick you up at four. Wear comfortable shoes, okay?” Nicky says, and he turns and leaves before José can say no.

Nicky spends the rest of the afternoon pacing around his four hundred square foot apartment. He doesn’t have anything to plan. He’s been ready for this since he first met José. Nicky tries to watch TV, but he can’t stay focused. He checks on his investments, but nothing significant has changed. Finally, he resorts to cleaning. It’s already tidy, but there’s no harm in vacuuming again. Couldn’t hurt to put fresh sheets on the bed, either. Nicky gathers up all the bedding, and he’s about to take it downstairs to wash when the sight of the bare mattress gives him an idea.

This is ridiculous, he thinks to himself, but that doesn’t stop him from climbing up on top and standing in the middle of the bed. He giggles to himself as he starts jumping. It’s more work than he remembers it being when he was five, but it’s still fun. Even if he has to watch his head getting dangerously close to the ceiling.

Nicky spends a full two minutes jumping on the bed like he’s a kid again when suddenly he realizes. Jumping makes the headboard bang against the wall in the exact rhythm he always hears coming from Karol’s apartment.

He congratulates himself on solving the mystery as he collapses back down onto the mattress. Jumping is hard. He lies there for a moment, basking in his own genius and catching his breath, before dragging himself up off the bed and down to the laundry room.

Finally, four o’clock comes, and Nicky knocks on José’s door again. José answers, and he looks dressed for a date, even with tennis shoes on. He looks _great._

“Wow,” says Nicky, suddenly second guessing his own attire. He recycled the same outfit he picked out when he first hung the mistletoe, and he now wonders if he should have skipped the hat. But José doesn’t seem to mind.

“Hello,” he says, and he’s blushing a little bit. “Where are we going?”

“Come with me,” Nicky says. “It’s a surprise.”

“You really are going to murder me, huh?”

Nicky grins. “Maybe.”

José shrugs and follows Nicky’s lead. They take the metro, and José’s eyebrows shoot up when Nicky tells them their stop. They’re in one of the comunas.

“Hey,” José says as they get off the train. “Should I call my mom one last time? Update my will?”

Nicky just laughs. “Come on, man,” he says, and he leads José towards the murals. They stop in front of a large, abstract painting of a tiger. Nicky sticks his hand out. “Nice to meet you, my name is Nicky, I’ll be your guide on the graffiti tour today.”

José pauses a moment before breaking out into a huge smile. He shakes Nicky’s hand, shaking his head a little at the same time. But he follows Nicky’s lead nevertheless.

Nicky takes José around to all his favorites first, a sphinx guarding its treasure, a woman turning into a dove, a wiley crocodile giving them the evil eye. Each painting is better than the last, and they talk excitedly about how cool the art is.

“So how did you find this place?” José asks him as they’re walking around.

“I have a lot of free time,” Nicky says. “I like to come explore, get lost, you know, and see what’s out there.”

“You spend all day wandering around? I wish I could do that.” José laughs. “I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve never been here before.”

“It helps that I don’t have to work,” Nicky says, shrugging.

“Really? You rich or something?”

“Uh,” Nicky says, hesitating. This is the first snag in conversation they’ve hit since coming to the comuna. “I’m not Sarmiento, but I do okay.”

“You do okay. But you don’t work. How does that add up?”

Nicky sighs. He shouldn’t have brought it up. “You know what a bitcoin is?” José nods. “Well, once upon a time I used to deliver pizza. And ten years ago, I sold a pizza to some guy for a bunch of bitcoins. And honestly I just forgot about it for a while, but then, well, you know.”

José does a pretty good job of hiding his shock.

Nicky continues, “I’m not like, a billionaire. I spent most of them on dumb shit. So don’t try to kidnap me and hold me for ransom.”

“Look how the tables have turned.” 

Nicky cocks his head at José.

“I thought you were going to kill me. Turns out I’m the bad guy in this situation.”

“Call it Stockholm Syndrome, but I think you’re pretty great,” Nicky says, winking. José turns pink.

“Okay,” he mumbles. He’s smiling, though. Nicky smiles back. José clears his throat. “Look,” he says, pointing to another mural. It’s a herd of elephants walking through the city streets. Nicky lets him change the subject and points out another painting.

Their date turns into a competition, although the rules are loosely defined. Sometimes they try to find the most interesting colors or notice the most obscure details. Sometimes they try to find the same themes, looking at all the different ways to paint a face, or a butterfly, or love.

Finally, Nicky notices that the sun is starting to go down, and he checks the time. It’s been nearly two hours.

“Hey,” he says to José. “Are you hungry?”

José nods enthusiastically.

—

They decide on street food, eating various salty, fried things in miniature. Nicky does his best to get all the grease off his fingers before he strategically bumps them against José’s, repeatedly. On the third time, José glances over at him, rolling his eyes. He still holds Nicky’s hand all the way back to the metro, though.

“I have a confession to make,” Nicky says once they sit down. He’s never appreciated the undersized seats so much as he does now. José is pressed up against his side, leaning his head against Nicky’s shoulder.

“Is it murder time? Was this all just a plot to lower my defenses?”

“You’re not giving that up, huh? You don’t trust me?”

“No one as charming as you ever has good intentions,” José says. He’s smirking.

Nicky smirks right back. “My intentions are pure.”

“Why don’t I believe that?”

“It’s true!” Nicky says, and he’s only half faking outrage. “That’s my confession. This was all part of my plan.”

José picks his head up, turning to look at Nicky. “Seriously? What kind of plan?”

“To, uh,” Nicky starts, and then hesitates. As he’s saying the words, it dawns on him how ridiculous this whole thing is. But he’s in too deep now, so he keeps talking. “To romance you.”

“To _romance_ me,” José repeats, staring a little bit.

Nicky shrugs. He feels himself getting hot around the neck. He shifts slightly away from José, as much as he can in their tiny seats. José is staring out right now.

“Why,” José starts to ask. He pauses, leaving his mouth open as he thinks. “Why did you need a plan? Why didn’t you just ask me out?”

“You shot me down the first time,” Nicky mutters.

“When?” José asks, looking incredulous. Then his eyes widen. “When I moved in? You were being serious?”

Nicky looks back at him just as incredulously. “Did you think ‘I’d like to take you out’ was some kind of friendly neighborhood expression?”

“I don’t know. You had pastries. That seemed pretty ‘neighborhood friendly,’” José says, laughing. He relaxes against the window, chuckling and looking fondly at Nicky. 

“What?” Nicky asks, amazed. “Filo dough is the most romantic of pastries!”

José shakes his head, laughing still. “I had a lot on my mind, too, you know, because I was moving in. I wasn’t expecting to be _romanced.”_

“Rookie mistake,” Nicky says, relaxing, too. He turns his body towards José, smiling big.

José smiles again, shaking his head. “So tell me about this plan,” he says.

“Karol helped me,” Nicky says. “Actually, it was mostly her idea.”

“Ha!” José says. “When she’s not jumping on the bed, she’s pretty clever.”

“You knew about that!” Nicky exclaims. “I just figured it out!”

José laughs. “No, but seriously. Tell me about the plan.”

Nicky says, “it involved code names,” and José dissolves into a fit of giggles. Nicky joins in, and they laugh so hard they almost miss their stop. 

—

Back at their building, Nicky and José take the stairs up to the fifth floor. They reach their apartments, and José stops them outside his door.

“I had fun today,” he says. “Thanks for taking me out and not murdering me.”

“Any time,” Nicky says. 

José smiles, glancing down at his shoes. Then he looks up and points over Nicky’s shoulder. “Look,” he says. “Mistletoe!”

Nicky smiles. “See, I told you I had a plan.”

José looks confused for a moment, but then he starts to laugh. “You’re something else,” he says.

“Guilty as charged.”

José pushes lightly at Nicky, who frowns, but backs up. “It doesn’t count unless we’re under it,” José says by way of explanation before he closes his eyes and kisses Nicky.

His lips are very soft, and Nicky has a hard time fighting the urge to smile. But the urge to kiss José back prevails, and he brings a hand up to cup José’s cheek. They spend a few minutes making out in the hallway like teenagers before they’re interrupted by Karol, who clears her throat. 

They break apart, making hasty apologies, and moving out of the way so she can get into her apartment. 

“Happy holidays,” she says before closing the door.

Nicky and José laugh, embarrassed. Nicky fiddles with his baseball cap.

“So I’ll see you around sometime, you know, besides just here in the hallway?”

“Yeah,” José says. “I'll be really busy until, well, probably the new year.”

“Oh,” Nicky says, disappointed. 

“No,” José says quickly. “That’s not, uh, I’m not trying to, uh. I still want to see you. I like you. A lot.”

“Oh good,” Nicky says. “I like you, too.”

José laughs, then continues, “I’m trying to start my own company, though. So I don’t have a lot of free time. You know Nicole, my assistant? She’s been helping me. She’s gonna jump ship with me, too. We have a pitch to some investors coming up.” José lights up as he talks about the prospect.

“Wow,” Nicky says. “That’s amazing!”

“Yeah,” José says, proud. “I have a really good feeling about it.”

“I believe in you,” Nicky says, and he means it.

“Thanks.” José smiles at him. “So, I’m gonna head inside. But I’m serious. I would like to see you again.”

“You know where I live,” Nicky says. “Come over when you’re less busy. I want to hear how much money the investors are gonna give you.”

José smiles again. “Okay, I will.” He gives Nicky another kiss before walking over to his apartment. Just before he opens the door, he turns back. “Hey Nicky? One more thing?” he asks.

“Yeah?”

“What was your code name for me? From your plan.”

“J Balvin.”

José laughs, leaning against the doorway. “I love it,” he says, and then he disappears inside.

—

Nicky goes home for Christmas, and he stays until after New Years. He texts José pretty much nonstop while he’s away. Nicky’s mom asks him who he’s talking to so much, and when he tells her “my neighbor,” she just rolls her eyes and says that at least he won’t have to move very far. Nicky doesn’t have a good comeback. He just grins.

Nicky plays Santa for his nieces and nephews, distributing all the presents his siblings asked him not to get. It’s worth their ire, though, when a herd of children come screaming at him and tackle him to the ground with hugs and thank yous.

On New Year’s Eve, he FaceTimes José watching the ball drop and sends him kisses through the phone. The nieces and nephews that have made it this late make faces at him, and Nicky chases them around in retaliation, scooping them up as they all shriek “Happy New Year!”

Nicky gets back to his apartment a few days later, and José shows up as if on cue. Nicky invites him in, and they sit in Nicky’s tiny kitchen. Nicky makes hot chocolate.

“How was your trip?” José asks between sips.

“It was good. I haven’t been back in a while.”

“Good. I’m glad you had a good time. And I’m glad you’re back,” José says, and then, “I got you something.” He pulls out a flat cardboard box. It’s about half the size of a pizza box, and the cardboard is glossy white. “Merry Christmas.”

Nicky puts his mug down. He opens the lid tentatively. Under the tissue paper is a button up shirt covered in colorful cartoon-style creatures. Nicky checks the tag. It’s branded “J Balvin.”

“You didn’t!” he says, turning to look at José in disbelief. “I guess your meeting went well?”

“Your plans are pretty well thought out,” is all José says, and then he’s leaning over and kissing Nicky with his eyes closed even though there’s no mistletoe in Nicky’s apartment.


End file.
